dude, i haven't studied philosophy since 1996

Upon being picked up from school, walking back to the car:

"I don't understand this life form."

Uuuuhh, you're seven, sister.

"I always just feel like I'm floating around, watching another person live her life, and I'm not really living it myself."

How about a cookie?

"Is it real?  I mean, do you really know that this is living?  Are humans even real?"

tickets and snacks were only $35

Caroline presented a live action "movie" for me today.  She made me sit in a chair in the hallway, and I had to peer at her in the playroom through the opening in a decorative tissue box cover (which made a handy dark frame, you see).  The movie was "Top Secret Agency" and she was the star Clara S. Morgan.  She used the ipod for intro music, spun around a toy bin to reveal a sign that said, "From the makers of 'Brave'," and employed a homemade flip book of opening credits.

Then the action began.

She and her sidekick Jane R. Swanson (played by our cat, Jane) searched for evidence to reveal where the evil villain was hiding.  Jane had a breakout performance.  She really broke out of the theater, I mean.  She ran past me, and Caroline chased after her.  She paused next to me mid-run, and said, "Well, it's a 3D movie!"

my little life coach

We were driving home from errands and shopping, complete with my discouraging crazy clothes, and she said, "Mom, do you think you're predictable?"  I said that, yes, I am probably pretty predictable.  She agreed.

"There are two things about you that are really predictable.  You're cheap and you're settled."

I take both as a compliment, and I told her that.

She followed up with, "Yeah, it's not bad or anything.  But you could live a little."

it's not easy

Caroline has started having more of an opinion regarding her clothing.  So I've started inviting her input before I go out to buy her stuff.  We were flipping through a catalog, just to get an idea of things she likes/doesn't, and she kept pointing to things that were bedazzled from seam to seam.  I'd say, "Really?  I think those beads would rip off in the washer, and then you'd be sad and wouldn't want to wear it."  Or "Does glow in the dark orange polka dot match lavender stripes?"  "How many shirts with cats on them do you really need?"  She was getting tired of my naysaying.  So she hmphed, threw her hands up, and then grumped, "Mom, why are you so un-cheesy?!"

common ailment

Caroline and Sylvie were playing with small action figures.  Apparently Caroline's little figure was feeling under the weather.  She approached Sylvie's and asked, "So, Stella.  You got anything to help with polio?"

I'm yellow and laugh a lot

I received this joke in honor of my birthday:

What's yellow and laughs a lot?

A ticklish banana! (you too!)

slogans rejected by the California Fig Board

Caroline says these things about the extra special fruit:

Figs!  They're delightfully slimy.

and

I love that figs look like they're full of raw meat when you cut them open.

selections from a 7 chapter book about cats

I found this book in her data binder at the end of first grade.  This was something she worked on at school and selected to keep in the binder as a favorite non-fiction piece.  It certainly is informative.  She wrote on the table of contents that "bold words appear in glossary."  Just so you know why some are "bold"...

Click each image to enlarge.

"ftt! -- your first warning."

"Cat trying to look like pacman to show how hungry she is." 

overheard while the girls played outside

Sylvie: I want to pretend to be a dog.  What's my name?

Caroline: You are Amanda the dog.

Sylvie: Yep, I'm Amanda the dog.  What are you?

Caroline: I'm Nicole the fox, and digging is my passion.

junior skeptic

A small business owner's card was on my desk.  Caroline picked it up.

"What's this?" she asked.

I told her it was a business card.

"Carl L. Smith, huh?  Carl L. Smith, PRESIDENT?"

I nodded.

"So he's portraying Barack Obama and thinks anyone will believe him?  Yeah right!"

we'll call it "rose eye"

Mama: Caroline!  How did you get pink eye?
Caroline: It's probably because I pick my nose.
Mama: Whaaat?!
Caroline: Like you didn't know...

...

Caroline: Sylvie, you have to get away from me.
Sylvie: Noooo, I want to be with you!
Caroline: Do you want to catch this disease?  

the voice of experience

One of Sylvie's friends at the preschool has been putting little heart notes into her paper cubby the past couple days.  He is older than Syl, so he is able to write inscriptions and make little envelopes... he puts a lot of effort into them. 

While Caroline was doing her homework, Sylvie was playing with the most recent note from her friend.  Caroline asked what she had, and I said that Sylvie had been getting sweet notes from a little boy in her class.

Caroline sighed and said, "Aaaah.  I can't believe that my little sister is already learning about romance.  They really do grow up so fast these days."

run of the mill snow day play

School is canceled today, so the girls are playing together this morning.  They're playing with stuffed dogs and a change counter.  I overheard Caroline, in the voice of Rosa the weiner dog, say, "Here in Puppyland, our tax rates are very affordable.  Here is 20 cents you may borrow to pay your taxes.  It keeps you legal."

monsanto is already on it, dude

A lovely suppertime discussion...

"Mom, wouldn't it be great if meatloaf grew on plants so that we didn't have to kill all those animals for this delicious dinner?"

only from the butcher's weekly flyer

While turning the pages of a cookbook, she looked up and asked, "Do you suppose dogs get paper cuts?"

the cats are considering a restraining order

Yesterday, Caroline's teacher sent home all the finished pieces from their first grade writing workshop activities thus far.  There were 13 works, some multiple pages, some just a single page.  12 were about cats/our cats.  That last 1?  It was about writer's block.

The best lines:

"PD is soooo hyper.  PD! She runs like a rat... and pounces to the moon."

"One day, Jane scratched me and her hiss flew like sound waves.  Well, I am alive."

"Take a look at the shimmery-eyed cat.  Cute, huh?"

"PD was probably bummed out."

and my very favorite...

"Sylvie and the cats have a growing relationship."

being thankful

At her Marmy's house for Thanksgiving, Caroline decided on her own that we needed decorations for the tables.  So she made little flower shaped papers and wrote things for which we should be thankful, along with illustrations for the illiterate.

They were:

Be thankful for all your toys.  [illustration: Nesty the dog]
Be thankful for the people you meet. [illustration: a friendly "visitor"]
Be thankful for the things you love.  [illustration: numbers]
Be thankful for your pets.  [illustration: pets]
Be thankful for your siblings.  [illustration: herself]

I read them all and was getting carried away on that wave of "awwwww," especially on the siblings tip; and then I heard the sound of two little girls shrieking and Caroline squawking, "Get her away from my stuff before she messes it up!!!!!"

Ah yes, just as the original Thanksgiving went.

truth

Caroline was carrying around her beloved kitten Jane.  They were going down the stairs when I heard Caroline admonish her, "Oh Jane, we do not lick our mothers on the face.  It's not polite.  No face licking.  I know, it's a hard lesson to learn.  I've been there."

cat care with lil bobbi barker

This was one of many pieces of art we found in the self-guided tour at the art museum in her bedroom.

[Click the photo to enlarge.]

purrfect start to the day

Caroline was wearing paper cat ears on a headband when she came down the stairs this morning.

I asked her what she'd like for breakfast.

"Oh, I'll have Mice Krispies!"

I paused to calculate exactly how weird she is, and then I reached for the box of Rice Krispies in the cabinet.

She headed towards the hall and announced, "Welp, time for this kitty to hit the litter box."

Recalculations were necessary.